Thursday 10 May 2012 17.01 EDT
First published on Thursday 10 May 2012 17.01 EDT

Maestro at the Opera9pm, BBC2

Another contestant will be knocked out this week as the remaining celebs (from a disparate pool comprising DJ Trevor Nelson, comedian Josie Lawrence, Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood and mathematician Marcus du Sautoy) get thrown baton-first into conducting a famous operatic scene with the Jette Parker Young Artists and the Royal Opera House orchestra. No pressure, then. It's followed by a performance at the ROH's Linbury, after which the musicians decide who gets canned. Ben Arnold

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down a Dream

9pm, BBC4

In the hands of Martin Scorsese, Bob Dylan gets three hours, and so does George Harrison. Acing the pair comes this Peter Bogdanovich doc on Tom Petty, weighing in at an unbelievable four hours. Mixing recent live footage, archive bits and interviews, it's a compelling film even for the Petty neophyte, charting the endurance of man and band through success, arguments, death and the Traveling Wilburys. The way to go is to record it and watch it like a series: whenever you're in the mood for quality heartland pop-rock. John Robinson

Lip Service9pm, BBC3

That's enough of the grieving, then, for everyone but Sam, as the show attempts to bring in a spot of light relief. Hapless Tess goes on a date with one of nasty Nora's friends; unsurprisingly, it doesn't exactly go swimmingly. Meanwhile Sadie's waitressing career hits an entirely expected stumbling block, as editor Lauren drops by, and Lexy's casual fling with Bea is complicated by a wine-tasting date with Sam. Rebecca Nicholson

Very Important People

9.30pm, Channel 4

The impressions show with Morgana Robinson and Terry Mynott continues. The mimicry is good, especially Mynott's, but what they've found to say about their targets is disappointingly bland. Russell Brand talks like this. Natalie Cassidy's a bit dumpy. It's not enough. And there's got to be a less clunky way of introducing impressions than: "I'm Gordon Ramsay." We know. And if we can't tell, don't do the impression. Like so much that has gone before, VIP falls into the "sometimes clever but not that funny" category. Julia Raeside

Episodes

10pm, BBC2

The transatlantic sitcom of Brit writers transposed to LA returns. It's four months since Beverley (Tamsin Greig) slept with Matt LeBlanc, and she's now separated from husband and co-writer Sean (Stephen Mangan). Meantime, with their comedy Pucks! about to debut on US TV (sample review from the critics: "Pucks! sucks"), all three have to work together. If the first series was uneven, there's plenty to suggest its successor will be more consistent. Jonathan Wright

Dexter10pm, FX

Honestly, sometimes it's as if this show is trying to be mediocre. If it is, then mission accomplished. Just as soon as the Brother Sam character got over his clumsy introduction and became interesting, thanks to a pretty decent performance from Mos Def, he's killed off. So this is another thing Dexter has to deal with rather than giving his attention to the season's supposed big villains, the Doomsday Killers. Even before the big twist – one of the most obvious of recent TV history – was revealed, their story wasn't getting much traction. Now they're more or less a subplot as Dexter boringly wrestles between good and evil. Phelim O'Neill